Alice International Airport Serves Alice and Jim Wells County Residents

Three miles southeast of downtown Alice, a 556-acre airport has quietly served Jim Wells County since February 1943, handling everything from military sorties to student pilots learning to fly above South Texas brush country.

Alice International Airport (IATA: ALI, ICAO: KALI) is jointly owned by the City of Alice and Jim Wells County and operates as a public-use general aviation facility at an elevation of 178 feet above sea level. Airport manager Michael Esparza oversees day-to-day operations out of PO Drawer 3229 in Alice and can be reached at 361-453-1721. The owner contact line is 361-668-7210.

The airport logged 26,600 aircraft operations in the 12 months ending April 19, 2023, according to Federal Aviation Administration data, an average of 73 movements per day. Military flights accounted for 75% of that total, with general aviation making up the remaining 25%. Fourteen aircraft were based at the airport during that period: 7 single-engine planes, 1 multi-engine aircraft, and 6 helicopters.

The field has two asphalt runways. Runway 13/31 stretches 5,997 feet by 100 feet and is equipped with a LOC/DME instrument approach on the Runway 31 end. Runway 17/35 runs 4,490 feet by 100 feet and carries precision approach path indicators on both ends. Neither runway charges a landing fee.

The airport is staffed seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. After-hours service is available by calling 361-664-2656, the same number listed for Kali Aviation, which operates a Robinson Repair Station and a flight training program on the field. Both 100LL and Jet-A fuel are available. Transient aircraft can be stored in hangars or on tie-downs. Bottled and bulk oxygen, both high- and low-pressure, are also listed as available services.

The field has no control tower. Pilots communicate on the common traffic advisory frequency of 123.000 MHz, which also controls runway lighting after hours. Medium-intensity runway lights on both runway pairs are preset to low intensity from dusk until 11 p.m.; pilots can increase intensity or activate lighting after that time through the CTAF. The airport's rotating white-green beacon operates from sunset to sunrise. Houston Center handles area traffic control, with San Angelo Flight Service Station as the designated flight service station. NOTAM-D service is available under the ALI identifier.

The airport's history stretches back more than eight decades. Activated in February 1943, it briefly hosted scheduled commercial service when Trans-Texas Airways flew Douglas DC-3s out of Alice from 1950 to 1951. Today it remains the only public-use airport in Jim Wells County, continuing to connect Alice to the broader national airspace system under the same joint city-county ownership it has held for generations.